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Aviation History
1941
1941 - 2216.PDF
i88 FLIGHT SEPTEMBER 25TH, WAR IN THE AIR East Africa are now over, and the.shores of the Red Sea and Indian Ocean are in our hands, so that sup-plies can reach the Middle East that way without much risk. With thedevelopments of communications in Persia (the real name of the countryis Iran, but Mr. Churchill likes to call it Persia, so let us iollow hislead, although that name only refers properly to the province of Fars) sup-plies foi Russia may also go in from the south-east. The enemy hasmade several attempts to block the Suez Canal, and it ought not to beimpossible to do it, for we have more than once blocked the Kiel Canal andthe Corinth Canal, but blocks can be cleared, and in any case the MiddleEast is not entirely dependent on carriage by water up from Suez. African Nights T^HERE are night-fighters in the•*• Middle East, and they shot down one of the enemy bombers south-eastof Suez not long ago, while on the same night another of our fighters shot downa Savoia bomber in the western desert. A sergeant major who was sleepingin a tent not more than thirty yards from the spot where the bombercrashed bad a narrow escape. "After the bombs and petrol had explodedpieces of the wreck fell down about us," he said. "But it was worth it.We had ringside seats." Messina, the port in Sicily nearest•x> the Italian mainland, was visited lot long ago by R. A.F. heavy bombers.The targets were the power house and H.M.S. IRREPRESSIBLE? A Fairey Swordfish receives the "O.K. lor height"signal when landing on H.M.S. Ark Royal. From the fact that all its bombs are still in their racks the Swordfish appears to have been on a fruitless journey. the landing stages of ferries connectingSicily with the mainland. Numerous heavy bombs were dropped. Somepilots dived to low altitudes to straddle their objectives. One of thefirst wave of aircraft started a fire near some oil tanks which was de-veloping .healthily when the aircraft turned home. One Scottish pilotfrom Dumfries said : "I had hoped to see Etna erupting, as I have neverflown near it before, but there wasn't a glow from it. However, what wedid see was much better than a vol- cano. When we went in light flakwas being hosepiped indiscriminately MINISTER FOR THE INTERIOR : An operative polishes the inside of a 500 1b.bomb casing in a Canadian factory. When it has been filled it will be delivered to the R.A.F. who will " deliver " it to the Germans. ail over the place, some from warshipsin the harbour. Then heavy A.A. gunf on the mainland started. Wedropped sticks of bombs right across the target, but couldn't see the ex-piosions against the vivid light from a fire that started raging near theCitadel. It was a ' corker,' and 1 was so fascinated by it that I ' stoogedaround' watching it for about half an hour. When we turned homewards itwas still spreading. We saw it shining in the sky behind us until Etna hid it." A Great Day's Work D.A.F. raids on Germany continue-*•*• to increase in intensity by day as well as night. Hamburg has now beenraided over 75 times. Of late, Karls- ruhe has been a favourite target. Asfor the day raids, one on September 17th may be singled out for specialnotice, though there have been many others. On that day there were atone time more than 300 British fighters over enemy-occupied territory. Theywent as escort and vanguard to bombers attacking a power plant inNorthern France. They protected the bombers from fighter interventionand saw them hit their targets. In the course of the day's operationsmany more British fighter aircraft went over France. Seven Me 109swere destroyed and a number of others probably destroyed. Representativesof all the countries which have pro- vided pilots for Fighter Commandtook part in the operations. A Polish Flight Lieutenant shot down twoenemy aircraft. A Canadian squadron destroyed another whi!e protecting alaunch of the air-sea rescue service which was trying to locate a Britishpilot who had been seen to bale out over the Channel. A new Spitfiresquadron, named after a famous Indian State, which shot down two
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